‘Mai-baap’ babus and poor little birds

The more one assumes, and hopes, that the authorities in this country are getting real, the more they dash your hopes. This post is about how the authorities’ feudal and ‘mai-baap’ mindset has not changed. That continues to be manifest in the attitude that as long as the bosses are kept happy, nothing else matters.

February 2 is the World Wetlands Day. It was on this day in 1971 that the Convention on Wetlands was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar. On this day, according to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, “government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and groups of citizens at all levels of the community have taken advantage of the opportunity to undertake actions aimed at raising public awareness of wetland values and benefits in general and the Ramsar Convention in particular.”

There is a significant bird sanctuary in Delhi’s neighbourhood at Sultanpur, just beyond Gurgaon. It has now been accorded the status of a national park, hence is known as Sultanpur National Park. Sure enough, a large function was organised in the park that day. And it was being celebrated in the only manner we know to celebrate – creating a ruckus.

As the pictures show, the parking lot of the sanctuary was taken over for the function with high-decibel loudspeakers that played music to test their quality, and were used later by the VIPs from Delhi and also senior officers from the state government. As the guards, a whole battalion of them, told us: Dilli se bade saab log aa rahe hain aur humare Haryana ke afsar bhi (Big officers from Delhi and Haryana are coming).

I am sure they must have also extolled the guards and other junior officials milling around the place. However, I doubt if they talked about how this is peak season at Sultanpur with thousands of migratory birds, and that creating such ruckus within the perimeter of the wetland is not just bad, but perhaps against the law too. If anything, these forest guards should be preventing these officers from doing all that they did. But! We are like that only!

That was not the end of it. We had cycled to the park with our cycling group and were told that our bikes cannot be let in as “sirf saab logon ki gaadi andar aane ka adesh hai”. We did try to reason with them that we want our non-motorised, non-polluting bikes to be kept safely in the designated area, but they wouldn’t budge.

Guess, our group is not one that gives in easily. Certainly not if we feel what is happening is wrong. Completely unconcerned with the increasingly menacing posture they were acquiring to shoo us away, we gave them a lecture about how it is their responsibility to safeguard these wetlands, not to make a mockery of it all by holding a program using loudspeakers. That if the big officers are stupid, you should tell them how it harms, not helps the birds and our environment. Suddenly, there was a change and the veneer, or should I say, their guard dropped.

We know what you are saying is right, a couple of them said, with all others nodding in agreement. We ourselves feel pained at doing this, but we are forced to do it. We will lose our jobs if we don’t follow orders. And as we were moving away came the parting shot: Sir, aap log hi in sab ko dikha sakte hain kya galat hai. Aap hi inko raaste par laa sakte hain (You guys can san show them the mirror. Bring them back on track). We realised we had made a point. At least the foot soldiers had been made aware. We take it as a small victory on the World Wetlands Day. More importantly, the feudal lords may not understand, or admit, but the undercurrents against their misrule are getting a voice.

As we rode back home, along the narrow roads, we saw several big cars with red beacon lights and police escort and pilot, sirens blaring, shoving everybody here and there like unwanted. All rushing to do their good deed on the World Wetlands Day, we are sure.

Author

Rajesh Kalra is the Chief Editor of Times Internet and business head for the non-English languages properties. A journalist for two decades, he also tried his hands at entrepreneurship in between. Although he has written on several subjects, he has a weakness for IT and telecommunications. He is an avid sportsman, a trained high-altitude mountaineer, a passionate mountain biker and a marathoner. His blog, Random Access, will cover issues that take into account these varied interests.
Follow @rajeshkalra on Twitter

Rajesh Kalra is the Chief Editor of Times Internet and business head for the non-English languages properties. A journalist for two decades, he also tried h. . .

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‘Mai-baap’ babus and poor little birds

The more one assumes, and hopes, that the authorities in this country are getting real, the more they dash your hopes. This post is about how the authorities’ feudal and ‘mai-baap’ mindset has not changed. That continues to be manifest in the attitude that as long as the bosses are kept happy, nothing else matters.

February 2 is the World Wetlands Day. It was on this day in 1971 that the Convention on Wetlands was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar. On this day, according to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, “government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and groups of citizens at all levels of the community have taken advantage of the opportunity to undertake actions aimed at raising public awareness of wetland values and benefits in general and the Ramsar Convention in particular.”

There is a significant bird sanctuary in Delhi’s neighbourhood at Sultanpur, just beyond Gurgaon. It has now been accorded the status of a national park, hence is known as Sultanpur National Park. Sure enough, a large function was organised in the park that day. And it was being celebrated in the only manner we know to celebrate – creating a ruckus.

As the pictures show, the parking lot of the sanctuary was taken over for the function with high-decibel loudspeakers that played music to test their quality, and were used later by the VIPs from Delhi and also senior officers from the state government. As the guards, a whole battalion of them, told us: Dilli se bade saab log aa rahe hain aur humare Haryana ke afsar bhi (Big officers from Delhi and Haryana are coming).

I am sure they must have also extolled the guards and other junior officials milling around the place. However, I doubt if they talked about how this is peak season at Sultanpur with thousands of migratory birds, and that creating such ruckus within the perimeter of the wetland is not just bad, but perhaps against the law too. If anything, these forest guards should be preventing these officers from doing all that they did. But! We are like that only!

That was not the end of it. We had cycled to the park with our cycling group and were told that our bikes cannot be let in as “sirf saab logon ki gaadi andar aane ka adesh hai”. We did try to reason with them that we want our non-motorised, non-polluting bikes to be kept safely in the designated area, but they wouldn’t budge.

Guess, our group is not one that gives in easily. Certainly not if we feel what is happening is wrong. Completely unconcerned with the increasingly menacing posture they were acquiring to shoo us away, we gave them a lecture about how it is their responsibility to safeguard these wetlands, not to make a mockery of it all by holding a program using loudspeakers. That if the big officers are stupid, you should tell them how it harms, not helps the birds and our environment. Suddenly, there was a change and the veneer, or should I say, their guard dropped.

We know what you are saying is right, a couple of them said, with all others nodding in agreement. We ourselves feel pained at doing this, but we are forced to do it. We will lose our jobs if we don’t follow orders. And as we were moving away came the parting shot: Sir, aap log hi in sab ko dikha sakte hain kya galat hai. Aap hi inko raaste par laa sakte hain (You guys can san show them the mirror. Bring them back on track). We realised we had made a point. At least the foot soldiers had been made aware. We take it as a small victory on the World Wetlands Day. More importantly, the feudal lords may not understand, or admit, but the undercurrents against their misrule are getting a voice.

As we rode back home, along the narrow roads, we saw several big cars with red beacon lights and police escort and pilot, sirens blaring, shoving everybody here and there like unwanted. All rushing to do their good deed on the World Wetlands Day, we are sure.

Author

Rajesh Kalra is the Chief Editor of Times Internet and business head for the non-English languages properties. A journalist for two decades, he also tried his hands at entrepreneurship in between. Although he has written on several subjects, he has a weakness for IT and telecommunications. He is an avid sportsman, a trained high-altitude mountaineer, a passionate mountain biker and a marathoner. His blog, Random Access, will cover issues that take into account these varied interests.
Follow @rajeshkalra on Twitter

Rajesh Kalra is the Chief Editor of Times Internet and business head for the non-English languages properties. A journalist for two decades, he also tried h. . .

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Author

Rajesh Kalra is the Chief Editor of Times Internet and business head for the non-English languages properties. A journalist for two decades, he also tried his hands at entrepreneurship in between. Although he has written on several subjects, he has a weakness for IT and telecommunications. He is an avid sportsman, a trained high-altitude mountaineer, a passionate mountain biker and a marathoner. His blog, Random Access, will cover issues that take into account these varied interests.
Follow @rajeshkalra on Twitter

Rajesh Kalra is the Chief Editor of Times Internet and business head for the non-English languages properties. A journalist for two decades, he also tried h. . .